Becky and the Outlaw (2) the Journey Home
by A Bad Attitude
Copyright© 2025 by A Bad Attitude
An Illustrated Dime Novel
Book Cover-A blonde woman is feeding chickens while a red-haired man cuts wood. Mountains are in the background.
Chapter 1
The last time we saw Becky and Early they were hightailing it out of Del Rio Texas heading for Mexico. Becky was riding one horse while trailing two behind her and Early was beside her trailing a mule, loaded with supplies. As they waded across the Rio Grande Becky asked, “Early where are we going?”
“My place, outside of Ciudad Acuña. How do you know my name?”
“I heard the man you shot call you Early Johnson and you look a lot like those wanted posters I’ve seen with your name on them.”
“Where did you see the posters”
“The Rangers put them up all over town. There was even one in the cantina where I work.”
“How much are they offering for me?”
“$10,000- Like the man said, ‘Dead or Alive’. I’m Becky, Becky Keller, from Keller’s Holler, Tennessee.”
“I doubt you learned to throw a tomahawk in Keller’s Holler.”
“It’s a long story. Right now, I’m hungry.”
“I’ve got supplies on the mule. I can fix you something when we get to the ranch, it’s not far.”
(Illustration #1-Becky and Early riding through a Mexican town with the townspeople staring at them.)
As they rode through Ciudad Acuña Early noticed more stares than usual. He hoped they were looking at the girl with the blonde hair. But he could not be sure. When they arrived at his ranch, Becky helped with the horses and the unloading of the supplies.
“Get a fire started in the stove while I make us something to eat. I see you have eggs. I’ll make eggs with some of that side meat. Too bad you don’t have milk; I could make a pan of biscuits.”
“I got milk, and it’s fresh. I milked my cow this morning. I’ll go get it. I keep it cool by hanging it down in an old dry well out back. I even have some of the butter I churned last week in that well.”
Becky looked at him differently.
“I thought you were a Texas bank robber. Now I find out you milked a cow this morning, you churned and made butter, and you keep it cool down in a dry well. Where are you from, Early?”
He grinned at her, “It’s a long story. I’ll go get the milk and butter. We’ll talk later.
A while later he was sitting at a table when Becky sat a plate of bacon and eggs, hot buttered biscuits, and coffee in front of him.
“Where did you learn to cook?”
That started a conversation that lasted most of the afternoon. Both told their stories. Neither cried, they were both long passed that emotion.
Chapter 2
Becky stood and began washing the dishes as Early walked out to check on the horses and his mule. He turned them out in a pasture and as he entered the house Becky asked where he bathed. She wanted to wash up before it got late. He told her there was not a river or stream close to the house but he had a washtub on the back porch. He would put it in the kitchen and haul water for her.
It was on his fourth trip with the bucket that he found her standing naked in the tub! He stared with his eyes wide at the first totally naked woman he had seen since his wife had died years ago. He turned away quickly as she turned to face him.
“Becky ... I’m sorry. Here is another bucket to rinse off. I’ll wait outside until...” he sat the bucket with the clean water next to the tub and turned to walk away. She touched his arm.
“Early, don’t go. You can...” she never finished. Early took her in his arms and they kissed.
She slept in Early’s arms that night with a smile on her face. He had made her very ‘happy’.
The next morning they were up at daybreak. Early started the fire in the stove, then went out to check on the animals and milk his cow. Becky again made biscuits. Later that morning, Early showed her to the chicken coop and she fed the chickens then gathered the eggs while he chopped wood for the stove.
Their lives settled into a routine that they both quickly became very comfortable with. One morning his neighbor, Señor Lopez came to their house. In his broken English he told Early that there was a man, a ‘pistolero’ in town. He was asking around about a red-headed gringo. Senor Lopez was worried and warned him to be careful. Early started wearing his pistol belt when he left the house. Two days later a young Mexican rode up and dismounted.
Early was coming out of the barn when the man shouted.
“Hey Gringo, I am here for you. Do not go for your pistol. I am Edwardo Manuel Ricardo Dominguez. The fastest gun in all Coahuila, maybe in all of Mexico. I will kill you. Slowly raise...” He never finished his thought.
The .52 caliber bullet hit him above his right ear. He was on the ground, dead, when Becky walked out on the porch holding a Spencer carbine. (Illustration #2-Becky aiming a rifle at a Mexican man talking to Early)
“This is the second time you have saved my life. Did the Comanches teach you to shoot along with how to throw a tomahawk?”
“No. My pappy taught me to shoot. What are we going to do with the body?”
“You get his horse into the barn. I’ll find a shovel, then we’ll bury him behind the wood pile.”
Two hours later Becky and Early were standing next to a pile of the young Mexican’s clothes while Early patted down the dirt over his grave.
“I’ll move the wood over his grave. That way no one will ever...”
“It’s not going to make a difference. They are going to keep coming until one of them catches us by surprise. Ten thousand dollars is a lot of pesos. We need to leave.”
“Leave? To where? I’m a wanted man in the States. Eventually someone would track me down. There is no place that would be safe...”
“I know a place we could go and nobody will ever come looking for you.”
“Where? California? Oregon? Canada? There is no...”
“Keller’s Holler. I’ll make up a story, the people there will not ask any questions. Especially since I’ll be the one telling the story. You’ll be hiding in plain sight.”
It was settled. They were leaving Mexico.
Chapter 3
(Illustration #3- Early and Becky riding side by side next to a river each trailing a pack horse.)
They began planning their trip the day Becky had killed the Mexican ‘pistolero’. It is about 300 miles downriver to Brownsville. They planned to stay on the Mexican side of the river where they felt there would be less chance of them being recognized. Early said that if they took their time, avoided going into towns, they could be in Brownsville in about 3 weeks. There they would sell their horses and book passage on a ship sailing to New Orleans. They would ride a paddle wheeler up-river to Memphis. From Memphis they would take a stagecoach to Nashville, then on to Knoxville. In Knoxville they would buy two mules and a wagon. Keller’s Holler is three days southeast of Knoxville.
In preparation for their journey, Becky had Early butcher a steer. She slowly cooked the meat, turning it into jerky. Early talked to Señor Lopez telling him they were leaving for California. Lopez was the owner of a huge tract of land that bordered the Rio Grande for miles. He bought Early’s place, lock, stock and barrel.
Señor Lopez went into his house while Early waited on the front porch. He watched a little boy, a grandson, playing in the dirt in the front yard. Early had no way of knowing that one day the descendants of that kid would be the leaders of the most violent drug cartel in all of Mexico!
Lopez paid him in U. S. Twenty-dollar gold coins. Early never questioned him about it.
They left for Tennessee two days later.
They had been on the trail about a week. One morning, Early was finishing packing up and Becky was at the river filling their canteens, he heard a voice behind him.
“Early Johnson, you turn around real slow. I’ve got my gun on you and I will shoot you!”
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